III. A HINT OF THE RESURRECTION. Whence this care of Joseph for the bestowal of his bones? 'What matters it-it may be asked-where the dust is laid, if only the a;piri t is secure? In one way it matters ,•ery little, though affection naturally inspires the wish to sleep beside one's kindred. 'l'h(ll'0 may have been more than this. 'l'ho care of the body in Egypt was, as we now know, connected with a hope of its revival. And there a.re good grounds for believing that the same hope had io do with this command of Joseph, and with the loving care shown by the patriarchs generally in the bestowal of their dead. (See the point discussed in Fairbairn's 7'ypology, vol. i. p. 366, et seq.). 'l'he believer's body is a sacred deposit. Destined to share with the soul in the glory yet t-0 be revealed, there is a fitness in treating it with roverence, and in laying it in a place consecrated to the Chris~ian dead.-J. 0. Vers. 17-22.-Isrciel's journey the embl.em of the Christian's pilgrimn,ge. I. Gon's TENDER CARE FOR BI', PEOPLE. 1. Trials a.nd temptations a.re 1-1roportioned to. their ability to bear them. "He led them not through the wa.y of the land of the Philis- tines." 'l'he conflict with these was not too much for his strength, but it was too much for Israel's faith. They would have made shipwreck at the very outset. He will not suffer us to be tempted beyond that we are able to bear. 2. It "was near;" but the shortest way to our possession may not be the surest. God's love is more fully dis- played in leading us seemingly away from what we desire than it would be in at once leading us to it. 3. His purpose in delay. God leads u.s by the way of the wilderness where, by the knowledge of ourselves and of him we may be prepared for the earthly and the heavenly portion he designs to give us. IL THEY BORE WITH THEM A PROOF OF Goo's FAITHFULNESS (ver. 19). 1. The time might have been when the hope expressed by those unburied bones seemed vanity and folly, but not now. These relics t-0uched a million hearts, and reminded them how gloriously God had redeemed his word. 2. We carry with us mementoes which fill us with strong assurance for the future. The very light we now possess tells how God fulfils his promises. Hum.an hearts believed God of old when he said that the Sun of Righteousness would arise, and human lips declared the hope. The past fulfilments of prophecy lay broad foundations for our trust that every word will in like manner be redeemed. ill. THEY HAD GoD HIMSELF FOR GUIDE. 1. We have the.indwelling of the Spirit and of Christ. We cannot mistake the way if we follow him who goes before us. 2. The light of his presence is brighter in the night of trial. When all else is veiled from sight, the light of that gracious presence beams out in fullest splendour. 3. There must be the following by day to have the consolation of the glory by night. Are we following in the footsteps of Jesus? Is he Saviour as well as sacrifice to us?-U.
EXPOSITION. Vers. 21, 22.-Tim PILLAR o-. THE CLOUD they advanced. Their journeys being made Alm OF FIRE. Hanng bUted, m verse 17, that aa much in the night-time as in the day, " God led the Israelites, n and determined on account of the intense heat, the pillar took their route for them, the writer here proceeds in the night the appearance of a column of to explain how this leading was aceomplished. fire, so as to be equally visible as by day With extreme simplicity and directness he All attempts to give a rational explanation i;tates, that the conduct waa effected by of the phenomenon are miBplaced, since the meaw; of an appearance, which in the day- writer, from whom a.lone we derive our infor• time was like a column or pilla.r of smoke mation on the subject, clearly regarded it ascending from earth to heaven, and in the as miraculous ; and both here and elsewhere night was like a pillar of :fire. He considers (eh. xiv. 19, 20, 24; xxxiii. 9; Num. xii. 5; the presence of God to have been in the pillar, xiv. 11) speaks of it as a form under which which moved in front of the host, 11.Ild showed God was pleased to show himself. There i& them the way that they were to go. When little doubt that fire and smoke signals were it halted, they halted· when it advanced, already used by comma.nders of armies for Oll. XIII, 21, 22.) THE BOOK OF RXODUS. 311
much the same plll}lose as that which God pre~ence of J~h?vah, though unseen, wa1 now 11ecomplished in this way. The Egyptian believed to _be m 1t, and to move it. To go by documents of tho period contain indications day and night. Or, "so that th7 might of tho usage; and it is found among the march both by day and by night.' Night marches are generally preferred by Orientals Arabians, the Groeks, and the Persians. (See on acco:unt of the great heat of the days. ospocially Q. Curt. Vil. Alez. v. 2; "Perticam, The mght-marches of the Israelites are qum undique conspici posset, supra pr1Etorium again mentioned in Num. ix. 21. sto.tuit, ex qua. signum eminebo.t pariter omni- Ver. 22.-He took not away. The last bus conspicuwn : observabatur ignis noctu, distinct mention of the cloud is in Num. xvi. 42, after the destruction of Korab, Dathan, fwnus intordiu.") Tl.te mir11ele was thus, in and Ahira.m. There is perhaps a later o. certo.in sense, founded upon o.n existing allusion to it in Nnm. xx. 6. In Nehemiah custom, with the difference that God here it is said that "the pillar of the cloud departed gave the signals miraculously, which were not from them," so long as they were in wont to be given in o. no.turo.l way by the the wilderness (Neh. ix. 19); and the same is im~lied, though not formally stated, in hwno.n leaders of armies. He thus consti- Nnm. ix. 15-23. There is no mention of the tuted himself the genera.I of the host. pillar of the cloud as still with the Israelites Ver. 21.-The Lord went before them. in the Book of J oshna. Probably it was last From Succoth at any rate; perhaps even on seen on the journey from Beth-jesimoth to the journey from Rameses to Succoth. In a Abel-Sh1ttim in the rich Jordan valley (Nlllll. pillar of cloud. The pillar was seen-the xxxiii. 49)